The invention disclosed herein relates to a method and apparatus for forming materials such as shoulder pads for garments, wherein multiple plies of the material are arranged in stacks, and the stacks are moved in sequence along a processing path where they are cut in the form of garment shoulder pads and the like.
Shoulder pads for garments, such as for suit jackets, usually comprise multiple layers of non-woven material that are laminated together. The shoulder pads usually are formed with wider layers of material at the bottom surface of the shoulder pad and narrower layers placed at the top surface so that the shoulder pad structure, if laid flat, is convex or curved to create a natural looking formation when inserted in the garment. Additionally, shoulder pads usually are formed with a relatively thin rounded portion that is to rest near the collar of the garment, and with a thicker relatively straight edge positioned adjacent the sleeve of the garment.
In the past, shoulder pads have been formed by dye cutting or "clicking" convex disc-shaped laminated layers of shoulder pad material with two approximately parallel cuts across the disc. The dome-shaped discs are made by placing layers of shoulder pad material together in overlying stacked relationship, with smaller diameter layers being placed atop larger diameter layers, and by needle-punching through the layers with barbed needles so as to mingle the fibers of adjacent layers together and thus laminate the layers. The relatively thin rounded arcuate edges of the shoulder pad cut from the dome-shaped discs of material form the portion of the shoulder pad that was to be positioned adjacent the collar of the garment and the relatively straight thicker cut portion formed the portion of the shoulder pad that was to be positioned adjacent the sleeve of the garment. The center portion formed by the two cuts through the disk of shoulder pad material was waste and discarded.
The cutting procedure usually was performed by placing pairs of the dome-shaped shoulder pad discs in face-to-face relationship, and placing a stack of discs in a conventional die cutting machine. This procedure is slow in that it requires the operator to match the discs of material together, place the discs in the cutting area, actuate the machine to make the die cut, and then remove and stack the cut pieces while discarding the waste.